Sunday, May 31, 2009

How not to deal with a constituent

So the story behind this is that an Astoria guy and his mother went to State Senator George Onorato's office and tried to make an appointment with him to discuss gay marriage (they being for it). When they got there, they were told that he would not meet with them at his District Office about the issue but perhaps would in Albany.

No matter how you feel about this particular issue, you have to agree that the Senator's office staff needs some training in public relations.

I've never asked my elected officials for "discretionary spending" to support my projects and have been muted in my disappointment when some decline to support my friends' projects (like the Queens borough president being alone in not supporting Transportation Alternatives public tours). I also see enough gray areas in issues of development and other matters to work with them despite particular disagreements.

But I do expect them to love freedom and support the rights of my fellow constituents. This pains me.

Onorato has been a big zero in this community for years. Yet no one cares. Now the clubhouse has decided to back gays, its an issue?

Actually, the majority of the people in Astoria are against gays. But, since our community’s future is with the Tower People and what they want (bikes anyone?) that is not important, right?

I don’t like it. Call it a religious thing (but, being Christian that makes it perfectly ok to attack those values knowing full well that you would never attack a Hindu or Moslem article of faith).

Get over it. Many people find that behavior offensive. They don’t want their kids exposed to it either.

This is like another one of those things from Hollywood has forced down our throats as ‘normal’ and the clubhouse has picked up on –– like out-of-wedlock births (think of all those programs out there the clubhouse can sponsor that can substitute for the traditional family!) –– the clubhouse wants to neutralize the wealthy articulate gays and bring them into the tent.

Believe me, you are the one who will have to get over it, because the majority of people in NY do not believe in discriminating against people because of their sexual orientation. You may still live in the stone age, but that is no reason to impose your discriminatory views to everyone else.

Actually, I'm not making things up. It was a topic on NY1's Road to City Hall this week and they made mention that the pendulum had swung in the other direction with a poll that came out in recent days and Hispanic opponents were stating it was because of their anti-marriage rallies.

Well, if the gays beat up on all the minorities that are adamantly opposed to gay marriage, then they would lose popularity among the white liberals that support them. It's much easier to beat up on the "Archie Bunkers" that go to mass instead.

Scary attitude that prevails on this site often. The macho,insular view of ignoring people having the rights to legally share things such as hospital visits, and other personal legal matters is down right sad.

The many states have a better understanding of this issue, not to mention even Iowa and other parts of the midwest. I dont live in the garbage LIC towers (bike tower people? wrong),and Im straight,but feel for people who have to put up with this discrimination. I bet if NYC allowed civil unions there would be a rise in attacks on gay men in Queens and Brooklyn. Pathetic!

Not sure I understand where you are coming from. You think that by increasing you rights by giving gays civil unions, which would allow things such as "hospital visits," as you mentioned, it would open you them up to violence when they walk through the streets of Queens? Well then what do you think marriage would do?

The best you could do was to reference a poll that NYers are evenly split on this issue.

Regardless, in this country we should not allow a majority group to deny fundamental equality and rights to a minority group. I agree that the attitude on this site is scary, but I'm not surprised at the pro-discrimination stances of the posters here.

People opposed to gay marriage do so because we believe that society (and in particular its children) is best served by focusing on the traditional nuclear family with a mother and a father. Does this model fall short when a couple divorces or there is abuse of children within a traditional marriage? Of course it does. However, just because people sometimes fail does not mean we change the ideal we should aim for.

People oppose gay marriage because they are bigots or ignorant and afraid of anything different from them. By your logic, anyone not able to have children should be disallowed from ever getting married. Stop trying to justify discrimination.

Marriage is whatever society defines it as. It wasn't too long ago that most of this country did not allow inter-racial marriages. The laws defining marriage did not allow it to include people of different races. That changed because it was the right thing to do in a country based on the principles of liberty. Denying equality and freedom in order to discriminate will not last very long in this country.

The problem seems to be that instead of rationally explaining why they should have marriage rites, the gays are attacking those who don't believe in exactly what they do. Time for you to make appointments with Ruben Diaz and Efrain Gonzalez and stop preaching to Archie.

You haven't given any reason why you think a "nuclear" family is better for raising children than a gay couple. And what if the gay couple is not interested in having children, you would be ok then if they were married? And if you would not support laws prohibiting single parenting, why support laws discriminating against gay marriage?

People oppose gay marriage because they are bigots or ignorant and afraid of anything different from them.------------No, we oppose it because it is unnatural and disgusting to say nothing about against religion.

People oppose gay marriage because they are bigots or ignorant and afraid of anything different from them.------------No, we oppose it because it is unnatural and disgusting to say nothing about against religion.

It is perverse.

-------------

Thanks for proving my point. Those are the same arguments that the racists who opposed interracial marriage used - that it was immoral, against "God's will" and "unnatural." Ignorance and bigotry run amok.

I agree with the poster nidway thru this thread. Gay people flocked to Obama, yet he has stated on MTV and MANY other medi outlets that he opposes gay marriage. On Meet the Press, while running, he clearly stated that "marriage is between a man and a woman." yet all the gay Americans hailed him and voted for him. So why should any other politician get a bum rap when all they are doing is agreeing with what another politician that gay people supported. The hypocrisy is mind numbing!!!

Funy how for 8 years of the Bush Monarchy, Homosexuals were screaming how Republican Rule has kept gay marriage from become a reality. Well people, here we have a Democratic White House, Senate and House, where is your gay marriage?

NYS has an all Democratic hold. The Governor, the Senate and the Assembly. Even the City Council! Where is your Gay Marriage now?

So sick and tired of the whining when Republicans have a hold. Well, now the Democrats are in charge, what are they waiting for???

2. Given the choice between Obama and McCain, gays were not going to vote for McCain, someone who didn't even know what LGBT stands for.

3. Young people support gay marriage by much higher margins. All you old homophobes will be dead soon enough, so your opinions really don't matter much at the end of the day. You'll share a paragraph with George Wallace in history textbooks.

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